Sovanna Phum Art Association Presents The Story of the Dog
On Saturday night I went to experience some of the traditional performance art that Phnom Pehn has to offer. The Sovannaphum Art Association have been running 1994 and put on performances for all audiences. The story of the Dog, hadn't been performed in 10 years and it was the first time that all the performers had used the wooden puppets. It was a beautiful display of the new and the old. The large traditional shadow puppets used in the Folk Tales, with the new wooden puppets, classical Khmer dance and beautiful physical theatre. The Theatre was an outside space with benches all cut to different heights to mimic rake seating perfectly. There were live musicians playing beautiful instruments I couldn't name the outside was decorated with more unused puppets. After the show, i got a sneak peak of back stage and had a go with the beautiful shadow puppets which are made out of leather and the shapes are cut out. Beautiful experience :)
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In Khmer classical dang there are so 5400 different gestures which all have different meanings. That in my tutor taught me the 8 basic gestures which represent the life cycle of a flower. It's like a more painful and more beautiful version of sign language, where fingers are contorted beyond there natural range of moment to create abstract shapes of flowers, fruits and seeds. . All the movements are so alien and awkward to me, and the attention to detail is incredible. From every finger to wrist twist. My tutor is a student of the dance academy at Cambodian Living Arts, an organisation who have a commitment to transforming and developing Cambodia through all arts. An organisation I hope to speak more about later on. This classical Khmer dance that I am learning has an incredible history of survival and resistance through the Pol Pot years of 1975-79. 'If you want to eliminate values from past societies you have to eliminate the artists. Because artists are influential. Artists speak to the people' (Don't think I've forgotten 2014) The Khmer Rouge understood the power of art, which is why only 10% of all artists survived the Khmer Rouge Regime. They would use dancers as propagandist for manual labor, the dancers all wore black, there was no emotion, no expression. This was the only dance which existed during this bleak, dark time. after 1979 a small group of dancers came together to bring there dance back to life. With 90% of there peers perished and with little or no archived documentation, photographs , manuscripts, video footage, they relied only on memory to Rediscover is ancient tradition. This is why I was so eager to learn some of this dance. A dance with such a history of strength and resilience, a true testament to the power of arts. There is a problem however with the value that Cambodia not people put on traditional art,that anything which is new or modern or contemporary, is seen as a threat to Cambodian values. After a time of such fear where everything was stripped away from the people, their individuality, their right to expression, their rights to their traditions, these values are treasured more than ever before. But is this high value which is placed on classical tradition stifling and hindering artistic and social development of Cambodia? At Hope for Justice I am teaching the girls contemporary dance and exposing them to a new way of moving and performing. It's very exciting. A time-lapse video of my first Khmer Dance Class at Cambodian Living Arts Saturday 7th August
Sources: Cambodian Living Arts http://www.cambodianlivingarts.org/, 2016 Questions of Practice The dancer and Cambodian History by Toni Shapiro-Phim The Phew Center for Arts and Heritage, 2007 Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll, John Pirozzi Documentary 2014 EXPLORING THE CITY: AEROPLANES, BANGKOK, KHMER LESSONS, HISTORY, NEW ART, CLASSROOMS AND POOLSIDES8/4/2016 On Tuesday and Wednesday I taught the first two classes at Shine School. The school is split into two classes, group 1 and group 2. Group 1 are the younger ones and have been here for a shorter time. For a lot of them there English is not as advanced, they are more hyper and more likely to act out. Group 2 are generally older and have been in the school for longer.
I started the class with an introduction circle where each person says there name and does a movement. This is mainly so I can remember everyone’s name! Warms up included, jumps and runs, and cartwheels. The girls all do Yoga every week, so when the warm ups included Yoga stretches that was a great link that all the girls could relate too. I’m a new teacher, with a new accent and teaching a dance style they have never seen before so all hesitations are allowed. The language barrier is difficult, and my one Khmer class I took on Sunday somehow isn’t sufficient to teach a full dance class and I have been amazed at how much language I am used to using. Challenging myself to explain things without using language is one that is very interesting. After my first class with group 2, some of the girls were practicing the movements in the corridor and correcting each other. It was so great to see them really engaging with it, and had obviously really enjoyed it too. The staff are really exciting to see what will come of this project. And I am so exciting to see the quieter students coming out of their shells, and I can’t wait to see how much I am going to learn and develop, as my teaching skills get pushed to new lengths Phnom Pehn, Cambodia. The Capital City. A crazy city. A city of fizzy pop shops on a side car of a motorbike, houses and shops that spill out onto the street selling eggs and noodles and wicker chairs. A city of silent beggars. Its a city for the young, the old are few and broken. Its a city of contrast. The Aeon Mall, a clean white western confusion of designer shops and fast food restaurants. Its a city for the travelers and volunteers of Non-Government Organisations. Its a city of corruption and police bribes. Its a city of fear, fear of the rich, fear of the Police, fear of the government. Its a city with a recent dark history, one which you can see in the faces of the old. Its a city of cheap beer and parties and food and Tuk Tuk rides.
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Caroline RowlandI am a dance artist from Leicester who is teaching dance in Cambodia with Girls who are survivors of sex trafficking and with young disabled Khmer people ArchivesCategories |